An Ironclad Argument

Mariner's Museum Is Where The Monitor Belongs

November 19, 1997

The suggestion has been made on the editorial page of The Virginian-Pilot that remains of the famous Civil War ironclad Monitor, which are deteriorating in the waters of the Atlantic off North Carolina, should be recovered and displayed at Nauticus in Norfolk. Certainly we agree that recovery efforts should continue.

But the notion that important remnants of the Monitor should be displayed at Nauticus is positively silly. The remains of one of the world's most famous ships are properly displayed in the rooms of one of the world's best museums, The Mariners' Museum in Newport News.

This is a fact already recognized by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the federal agency that is responsible for recovering and safeguarding the Monitor. In 1987, after evaluating a variety of proposals, NOAA chose The Mariners' Museum to preserve and display Monitor artifacts. The museum already has a permanent Monitor display, and artifacts displayed include the ship's anchor.

There is no need to delve into the problems Nauticus has suffered to dismiss the idea that it is an appropriate repository for the Monitor. Quite simply, Nauticus is not a museum. Lay people sometimes forget the full meaning of that word, "museum," because when they go to a museum they go only to see what is on display and do not fully appreciate the work and expertise and financial resources required to make the display possible. For example, the Monitor's anchor had to undergo more than two years of conservation treatment before it could be displayed by The Mariners' Museum.

So we urge Congress to provide NOAA the financial support it needs to make a timely recovery of the Monitor. Once the artifacts are recovered, there is no place better qualified to preserve and display them than the place that's already doing just that, The Mariners' Museum.